Parody
pictures. Also nise [, yatsushi ŠG, fuuryuu Ž. Analogues
of Japanese and Chinese classical paintings or literature, historical facts
or legendary events which were used by *ukiyo-e
ĒG artists to illustrate contemporary events or figures, serving as a pictorial
simile. Generally the prints are recognised as mitate by the use of the
term "mitate" in the title, but some leave it to the viewer to decipher.
Mitate-e require considerable understanding of the classics to recognize
the original subject matter and for this reason were often used as intellectual
games, providing those privy to such information with a sense of belonging
to a special intellectual group. The most popular Japanese mitate
were taken from GENJI MONOGATARI đĻę (The Tale of Genji), ISE
MONOGATARI ÉĻĻę (The Tales of Ise) and the CHUUSHINGURA b .
Popular Chinese-based mitate include *Kanzan
Jittoku ĶREū, Eight Views of the Hsio and Hsiang *Shoushou
Hakkei ānÃŠi, Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove *chikurin
shichiken |ŅĩŦ, and themes taken from the SUIKODEN  õ` and
SANGOKUSHI Ou. An example of a mitate-e is Mitate Kikujidou
Đ§eķ by Suzuki Harunobu éØtM(1725-70), one of the most elegant artists
to produce mitate-e prints *Kikujidou
eķ@was a page to the Chinese Emperor Mu of the Zhou dynasty. He attained
long life by virtue of his religion; another version has it that he drank
the dew drops from the leaves and thereby obtained eternal youth. In Harunobu's
print Kikujidou is represented by a young girl admiring chrysanthemum
flowers by the banks of a stream. In itself, the print is attractive, but
its creativity is enhanced if the background of the original Kikujidou
tale is understood.

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